Leading market research companies worldwide by global research revenue 2016-2021

In 2021, the leading market research company in terms of global research revenue was IQVIA, generating approximately 5.2 billion U.S. dollars. In the same year, American company Gartner accrued almost 4.75 billion U.S. dollars.

Market research companies - global players

Market research is an important business strategy involving the gathering of information about an organization’s target market. In terms of global research revenue, American company IQVIA was the leading market research company worldwide. Headquartered in the United States, and coming into existence following a merger between IMS Health and Quintiles, the number of employees working for the company totaled almost 80,000 people in 2021.

The sixth largest market research company in terms of global research revenue was Kantar. Kantar Group is a UK-based international network of 12 companies, including Millward Brown and IMRB International. In 2021, Kantar’s research revenue amounted to approximately billion 3.3 billion U.S. dollars. Another European leader, and ranked seventh in the global ranking was Ipsos, with research revenue of over 2.5 billion U.S. dollars. The largest share of market research revenue made by Ipsos was generated in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2021.

United States dominant in a global market

The global revenue of the market research industry reached almost 120 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, over half of which came from the United States. The number of full-time employees working for the top ten market research companies in the United States totaled almost 40,000 in 2020.